More in ‘holidays’

“Next year in Jerusalem” is, of course, the traditional conclusion of the Passover seder. But “Next year in Aruba” may be gaining ground.
Passovers spent away from home are a long-standing tradition. Instead of hauling boxes of dishes out of storage, performing bedikat chametz, and spending days—or weeks—preparing kosher-for-Passover meals, observant East Coast Jews who could ...

WHAT’S It ALL ABOUT?
Purim is the Hebrew word for “lots,” and the lots in question were drawn by Haman, an evil advisor to the Persian king Ahasuerus in the 4th century BCE, in order to decide on which day the kingdom’s Jews would be put to death. The plan was foiled thanks to Esther, the ...

When Victoria Beckham last week told a panel of sports experts—that is, the ladies of The View—that she thought men should not wear feathers, I took offense at the swipe directed at Evan Lysacek, the just-crowned Olympic figure skating champion. He had pumped his feathered fists after a successful short program and wore a silver ...

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
In the Mishnah’s tractate Rosh Hashanah, the rabbis engage in their trademark Talmudic discussions and determine that we must celebrate the beginning of the new year not one time but four. The first celebration, in the month of Nissan, is dedicated to the reigns of Israel’s kings. The second, in Elul, to ...

For many immigrants and their children in the era of mass Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe, the ubiquitous Yiddish accent was a source of shame and a barrier to upward mobility. For the cartoonist and animator Milt Gross, that accent was the funniest thing he had ever heard.
In his cartoons, Gross, born in 1895 to ...

Opening night for Avatar was also the last night of Hanukkah, but when I was offered a free ticket to the blockbuster action flick, I put on my 3-D glasses and didn’t give the Festival of Lights a second thought. Then, while the big blue subalterns scampered across the screen, the damnedest thing happened: I ...

The Annotated Child: Coping with the December dilemma

To download an MP3 of “Eight Days of Hanukkah,” click on the album cover at left and save the .zip file to your computer. File size is approximately 3 megabytes. (Mac users should control-click and select “Save Link as.”)

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Know that bittersweet feeling you get when you finish a really great book? This is what Simchat Torah is all about: having read through the five books of Moses, congregants read the Torah’s last portion and then jump right back to the beginning and read the first, creating a neverending cycle.
The festivities ...

We all have things to atone for. Did you tell a little lie? Say something nasty to a friend? Shout “you lie” in the middle of a presidential address? To help you get things off your chest, Tablet is offering a Daily Sorry each day until Yom Kippur. Today’s atoner has her four-legged friend on ...